Elaborating on the successful collaboration programs, Aurigene's CEO CSN Murthy said "Aurigene combines its excellent execution of integrated drug discovery programs with the deep biological insights and clinical expertise of its pharma partners, and this has resulted in a very efficient model that delivers clinical candidates in timelines of 3 years or less in challenging programs."

One of Aurigene's pharma collaborations, covering 4 different programs in oncology, has seen the company delivering a clinical candidate currently in Ph 1 trials in the hands of its partner. Two other challenging programs, both potentially first-in-class molecules, are in late stages of lead optimization, with the potential to reach clinical development over the next 12-15 months. This represents a high success percentage, delivered in a highly cost-efficient and timely manner.

In another large pharma collaboration, Aurigene has been working in a niche area of inflammatory disorders, and has delivered, within 30 months of the start of the collaboration a very exciting clinical candidate for an unmet medical need. This drug candidate is in late stages of regulatory toxicology studies, and could potentially enter the clinic before the end of the current calendar year, subject to regulatory clearances. "Previous attempts to develop candidates against this target by other companies have resulted in compounds with sub-optimal properties, and could not get beyond initial clinical trials. Aurigene's candidate is the first compound against this target that has the potential to overcome the shortcomings observed in the competitor's compounds," said its Sr. VP, Biology, Subramanya Hosahalli.

About Aurigene

Aurigene is a Biotech focussed on early stage collaborations in integrated discovery partnerships, along with its own pipeline of small molecule and peptide therapeutics built for partnering with pharma companies, in the exciting areas of Cancer Metabolism, Epigenetics, Cancer Immunology and the TH17 pathway. Aurigene, with over 500 scientists in its Indian and Malaysian laboratories, has collaborated with 6 of the top 10 pharma companies, in addition to partnerships with mid-sized pharma companies and Biotechs in the US and Europe. For more information on Aurigene's collaboration business model, and its pipeline, please visit the company's website at http://www.aurigene.com.